The Pittsburgh Pirates have purchased the contract of 22-year-old shortstop Nick King from the Schaumburg Boomers of the Frontier League. He played just four games for the team, going 1-for-14 at the plate and handling all of his chances in the field cleanly.
King was a senior at Georgia this year, where he hit .236/.288/.282 in 55 games, going 13-for-16 in stolen bases and he had a .952 fielding percentage at shortstop. All of those stats were slightly down from his junior year, when he had a .639 OPS, with 16 steals and just eight errors in 54 starts at shortstop. He’s an athletic player, who starred in both football and basketball during high school.
The Pirates have two middle infielders at Morgantown who were injured in the first week (Stephen Alemais and Trae Arbet), so King will likely report there, though nothing has been announced.
UPDATED: The Pirates also signed infield Daniel Cucjen, who spent four seasons at Alabama, two as a teammate of 2015 third round pick Casey Hughston. He has played shortstop, third base and second base during his career. He’s 23 years old and started 57 games over his college career, including a career high 31 games this season. In 112 at-bats this season, he hit .205/.264/.250, with eight walks and three stolen bases. He has been assigned to Bristol.
Cucjen is the son of Romy Cucjen, who was a fourth round draft in 1982. He reached Triple-A for two seasons, playing his last year with Indianapolis in 1990 when the Indians were a Montreal Expos affiliate.
